Breakthrough
by Galdr
Summary: Time-Travel challenge issued by DfangOO. Kidnapped and misused for Orochimaru's nefarious deeds, the Uzumaki siblings attempt to escape from the Sannin's clutches, only to fail. Their father rescues them at last, but one sibling was whisked away right before his eyes. Naruto will do anything to get his child back. It was time to break through time, to the era of his childhood.
1. If There Were Any Other Way

Time Travel challenge taken from DfangOO. I hope you guys don't mind if I upload this while working on the other fics, right? A summarized version of the challenge is on my profile. Let's get started!

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Naruto is copyrighted to Kishimoto Masashi. Huh, maybe I do own the plot though of this story...nah.

Warning: This fic is rated T, borderline M for possible imagery that might make you squeamish. I normally don't write that kind of stuff, but for this particular story, I wanted something "darkish" to go along with it. The M-rating only pertains to the first chapter though, so don't fret.

(Chapter title inspiration: SoulCalibur III)

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Breakthrough  
発見  
_Hakken_

1: If There Were Any Other Way

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-x- Unknown Location -x-

_Clack, pat, clack, pat._

The audible sounds of four, bare feet tapping against the metal floor of the underground base. Running, running, as far as possible. There was no time to look back, no time to even think about what was behind and chasing. The movements increased as the flesh meeting the steel surface continued.

_Pant, pant, pant, pant._

The sharp intake of breaths that erupted from the lungs of the running figures, their shadows cast against the light's reflection on the surface. Sweat ran down their foreheads as their eyebrows creased with evident worry of their current predicament. One's breath was growing shorter than the other, but they prevailed and kept going. Their feet pounded against the metal surface of the underground base's interior, echoing off the eerily silent walls that surrounded them.

_Pause._

It seemed there was no end to the hallways. Every turn, every direction, all of it looked the same to them. They only remained in one spot for naught of a few seconds before turning down another path and hurrying. Their only drive was to escape, to escape this hellhole they've been trapped in for too long. To find their way out and get back home. Their parents were, no doubt, worried senseless about them. They hoped they were looking for them as they were looking for a way towards freedom.

_A low grunt of dissatisfaction._

Erupted from one of them. It was like a beast, lying in wait for something to happen, something exciting. It was young but restless since the day of its modified creation. It'd been silent throughout most of the time, but with the noise, it had awakened to give its full attention. It's breathing didn't compare to the two that had been decisively evading any bad angle, every terrible turn that wasn't trustworthy. Their only goal in mind was to escape, to get help, to get home. That was their drive, and the creature's desire to meet the one it had been born from.

_Turn right. Turn left. Run, run, run, down this hall._

Running with all their might, were two children. One was around the age of eight—an academy student. This child was female with straight indigo hair, with a small leaf-stem like ahoge poking up from her dome. Her hair looked almost midnight in the pseudo darkness illuminating around her. It only reached her shoulders and looked unkempt and messy. Her once pure colored face, was caked with dried blood and other unsanitary fluids. The shape was round and puffy, the essence of a young girl. Her brows were crossed with evident worry, her shining, ocean-blue eyes—once filled with innocence, but corrupted with fear—only stared at the back of the person pulling her arm, only looking ahead. Distinctly upon her cheeks were a pair of marks, thin lines that resembled canine whiskers of sorts. Her state of dress was anything but adorable. It'd once been a cute yellow dress with sunflower patterns stitched adorably on the hem, purchased by her mother. However, it'd been reduced to nothing but rags that barely clung to her body. But at the moment, she didn't care about her appearance.

Pulling her arm was around the age of twelve, just about four years senior to the girl. This child was a boy, with wild, blond hair, only tamed to look modestly like an upside down leaf, with its edges curved out. As the girl, he too sported an ahoge, which looked more like a leaf's stem than anything else. His bangs stuck to his forehead due to his increased sweat and prolonged heaving of breath intakes. He wore nothing but a ragged version of what had been track pants, black in color but appeared darker due to dried blood stains lingering on the fabric. His chest, upon his tanned skin, was littered with black ink marks, as if they had been drawn upon his body and left to stain permanently, though that wasn't to be.

The most notable of the ink implications was a circular pattern, marked with the Kanji 'creation', 'storage', and 'preservation'. By now, it'd have disintegrated into his skin—which it had—but it was being utilized by someone that wasn't his own doing, causing such exertion on his body. His cheeks shared the unique, thin lines as the girl, and also saturated in fluids he wished he'd never seen. Unlike the girl's, his eyes weren't blue—instead, they were pigmented in an orange-yellow shade, with a horizontal slit for a pupil running through each iris. Around his eyes were the same color, resembling what could have been mistaken as eyeliner, but that wasn't to be. Grasped tightly in the boy's other hand, was a hitai-ate; the ownership being himself and the symbol upon it was a leaf.

_Konohagakure._

One thing was notable about the both of them and that was the both possessed the same mark on their necks, in conjunction of the same place. It was a mark given to them, unwillingly on their part, through which they'd been a victim of being bitten. Three magatama, tomoe-like 'commas' intersected together. It was a form of a juinjutsu, applied to their bodies for the sake of finalizing a madman's research to a perfect body, to the perfect genes, to his perfect satisfaction of obtaining the unattainable.

_Cursed Seal of Heaven._

Several scars littered both children's bodies however they had their own individual injuries that hardly healed. The indigo-haired child sported burns on her right leg and arm, with an injured left ankle. While it hurt to run on it, the adrenaline rush and hope for escape fueled her to ignore it. The blond-haired one had a scar running across his abdomen that looked like it had been healed at a rushed pace, never minding his agony at the time. He, too, sported burns on his left arm, but the marks appeared faded, unlike the girl's.

The children were barefooted, their feet pounding upon the steel shoal that was cold to their soles upon every interaction. Their hearts were thumping against their chests as hard as a hammer as they ran on will and fumes alone, tired from both physical and chakra exhaustion. They'd been subjected to many inhumane tests, all of which were uncomfortable, painful and induced the existence of fear into their lives. The boy's eyes darted to and fro at the next intersection, trying desperately to pinpoint their next destination. The girl closed in on him, both holding onto each other as tightly as possible.

"N-niichan... w-where do w-we go n-now...?" the girl asked, her voice trembling with utmost fear and barely above a whisper.

"...I don't know, imouto. I can't sense anything..." the boy replied, also in a hushed whisper, still scanning their current surroundings. He knew they couldn't remain in one spot forever, or else _he_ would come and find them. He couldn't allow their recapture, not after pulling a sacrificial stunt to get them both out of that horrible place, that laboratory that man forced them into. He did not want to go back to be subjugated under more tests, where he would be forced to watch as the man defile his little sister more right before his eyes. It had been disgusting and immoral to the highest degree the first time—he, no they—would not go through it a second.

That man had taken his sister's innocence in the span of five minutes right in front of him, and had subjected him to an endless torture of examinations. He tested his limits, and regarded their "longevity and endurance" genes with great reverence. The boy still couldn't get the way the man freakishly lavished over their stamina and capabilities like they were some new toys to play with. He still couldn't get his voice out of his head, the way he spoke to them as if they belonged to him.

What with the month long absence since their kidnapping, he'd grudgingly accept that as almost truth.

-x-

"_Ku ku ku ku, don't worry my pet, soon the pain will be over, and you will be under my control."_

_"Shut up! I'll never let you get away with this! For hurting my sister, for kidnapping the both of us!"_

_"Mmhm, you have no choice. I've marked the both of you with my Curse Seal. Once the genes of your little sister's such generous samples complete, I will inject myself with it. As soon as it cultivates into the full Byakugan, activating it will be a breeze, as it is said to be just as superior as the Sharingan." The man chuckled darkly as his eyes fell on the boy's prone form, chained to a test table. "It's thanks to your baby sister that I was able to extract the necessary genes for it to form through subjugation. Now, all that's left of my research, for my goal, is you, my dear pet."_

_Snarling, the boy wiggled and squirmed to break free, to no avail. He settled to glare at the man instead. "You bastard. When my father finds out, he'll tear you apart! When I get free, I'll rip you apart myself! How dare you touch my sister!" As he raged on, red chakra began to pulse and bubble around his body, threatening to break through the confinement. Unfortunately, the chains didn't give way and forced the chakra back._

_The pale skinned man simply licked his lips and cackled that infuriating laugh. "My pet, don't be so angry. It won't do to get so upset. You'll ruin that precious body of yours." He ran a contented hand through the boy's blond locks, only to have the child recoil from his touch._

_"Get your hands off me."_

_"You're such a feisty one, an Uzumaki no doubt like that red-haired grandmother of yours. Especially like your father. It's too bad the Orange Hokage won't be here to celebrate with me when I achieve my new body through his first born son."_

_Eyes flashing a reddish-orange hue for a brief moment, the boy struggled again just as the man leaned over and pressed his face against his. His ice cold fingers slid down the body's naked body with a dreamy expression, none of which were any good to the captive. The boy shuddered and grimaced when the physical contact initiated and did his utmost to resist. "Mm, that's right. I haven't told you what I plan to do yet, as far as using you for a new body."_

_"You failed to get Sasuke-ojisan, so you're settling for kids again? You disgusting pedophile."_

_The man ignored the insult, quite proud of his distasteful accomplishments. "Sasuke-kun nearly gave me the Sharingan, but it was your ridiculous father that prevented me from ever obtaining it. His daughter hasn't shown any signs of activating it either. However..." the man pulled away like a slithering snake—that what he was anyway—and grinned. "You and your darling sister have shown to surpass the Sharingan. Yes, it is your Uzumaki vitality that I crave. Your father would have made an excellent target. However, such complications to his body prevents me from assaulting him personally."_

_"Tch! You're just afraid he'd kick your ass all the way to next week if you tried!" the boy huffed with a triumphant smirk on his face. Having imagined that was something worth smiling about._

_"Perhaps so, but why go after a damaged body when there were two possible untouched vessels lying in wait?" The boy's smirk faded into a grimace as the black-haired man continued his blabbering. "Yes, quite. The girl, while fresh, had the ability to activate that bloodline trait, the Byakugan. If probed through genetic alteration, it would spring forth much faster, thus allowing me to cultivate it quicker. As for you, my boy, while you show a recessive trait to the Byakugan, you inherited your genes specifically from your father. Both of you had reserves that far surpassed any of your peers, which was a blessing in itself. I took notes from your father however; being the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Kitsune also expanded his reserves as he grew older. It gave birth to another idea, which results in using you, the son, for the project."_

_The boy didn't say anything, too disgusted to and, on the back burner of his mind, very curious as to what this man would say. He feared it, in the pit of his stomach. He knew he wouldn't like it, but..._

_"You and your sister readily adapted to the chakra of the Bijū easily when around your father. It made me wonder... if one of you could be host to a Bijū yourselves. A very thoughtful question, since the both of you have the reserves of your father. Thus, I began my research on the remaining, unsealed Bijū and what of the Uzumaki Clan I could gather. Turns out, the both of you could accept any one of the chakra beasts easily and adapt to its power." The boy shuddered at his tone, his heartbeat accelerating. "But you, my pet, you showed more promise. I wished to capture the Kyūbi for this research, however, it would have been futile as to who the container is. So, I went through alternatives..._

_"The closest Bijū I could grab a hold to was the Nibi no Bakeneko's. With a few of my remaining followers, we traced down leftover traces of the Kyubi's chakra and stored it away along with the Two-Tails' chakra. I pondered, at last, of what I'd do once I collected as much of the chakra. It was definitely potent, such eroding power should be contained into something, or someone. Someone who be capable of containing it. This also gave birth to a new idea; what would happen if concentration of viable chakra were condensed into one being? Would it birth into a new form? Or would it simply be chakra condensed? This brought me to you, boy. With your reserves, you could contain this chakra, to become my personal guinea pig._

_"Should this prove fruition, should it succeed... then I'd have created my own tailed beast!" The man raised his hands in a show of accepting an applause, though he received none. The boy's faced had morphed from curiosity to one of shock. Majority of what he was saying made little sense, but some of it he understood. The parts he did understand scared him._

_"With you, we stored this combination of the Nibi's chakra and the Kyubi's into your body as a host via a constructed seal that is connected to your Cursed Seal. This entire month has been bearing me such fruit of success—I, Orochimaru, had done something the great Sage of the Six Paths had done. While small and breathing, the condensed chakra had taken shape and molded into a form. The chakra it formed from had a consciousness of its own, thus allowing the creature to take shape. Using your body as a structure pillar to feed chakra into, like an infant receiving milk, it began to grow._

_"Yes, with you boy, we have created a Tailed Beast. Thanks to your reserves to store a mass amount of chakra, and from the siphoning of your own chakra circulating through you, it has been done. A hybrid of the Nibi and Kyubi. Neko no Kistune, if you'd like to call it. For you, my pet, to house such a creature..." He trailed off, loving the facial expression the boy was giving. For his part, the blond was mortified._

_"...N-no way... It's..."_

_"Yes. You have been turned into a Jinchūriki. Just for my liking. The biju might be small now, but it will only grow in size as it absorbs chakra. It is a grateful fact to note your father taught you how to absorb nature chakra and senjutsu; this only speeds this up for me. When I take over your precious sister's body to absorb the remainder of her being, I will be transferring myself to you. Being a Jinchūriki has its perks, and being an Uzumaki has even better perks, wouldn't you agree?" Orochimaru chuckled again. "While in your body, I will personally take for your girlfriend. As soon as she activates her Sharingan, I will snatch them from her and implant them upon my person. It's rumored that the Rinnegan could be obtained if both Senju and Uchiha genes are together in one vessel. The Uzumaki are distant relatives to the Senju Clan. Imagine what would happen once I take your precious girlfriend's eyes?"_

_The boy, having gotten over his shock, growled and narrowed his eyes as he thrashed in place. The red chakra returned again—this time he knew why it happened. "You bastard! If you lay a finger on Sarada, I'll—!"_

_"Ku, ku, ku, ku. You're in no position to threat, little Boruto Uzumaki. Enjoy the last of your precious freedom, child. When the time comes when I take over your body, I will do so without mercy."_

-x-

Boruto narrowed his eyes as he continued scanning around, trying to locate any safe routes. That particular memory had been several days, weeks or whatever, ago. He and his sister were being used, abused and treated like lab rats to that madman, Orochimaru, one of the Sannin. His heart thumped heavily again; recalling that memory unsettled to the nth degree. They'd been saddled with injections and probing that would have made any man or woman scream in terror. He could still remember when his baby sister screamed out to him while that bastard touched and defiled her before him.

He couldn't do anything then, having been subjected to his own torture. The seal that had been drawn on his chest had subconsciously drawing chakra into it, nursing the Tailed Beast that had been created with his own body and with Orochimaru's administrations of additional chakra. It was scary to him; he been turned into the same thing as his father, by different means. His life had been forfeited the moment it began to take shape and draw on his own chakra to stabilize into a base form.

Boruto had only delved into his mind to find the 'infant' Tailed Beast a couple times, watching in horrified fascination as it subconsciously feasted on his chakra and the chakra it had been supplied through the administrations. The first time he had seen it, it was the size of a normal house. The second time, it was the size of a skyscraper, much like the ones back in Konoha. It seemed to remain at that particular size but still drew and nurtured from the chakra it received. Much like its dubbed name, it was quite literally a cat-fox hybrid. It's body was lean and limber like a cat's; it had the ears of the Nibi, but tad wider like the Kyubi's.

It's snout was small, but still sprouted out a bit like a fox's, and it had a cat's nose definitely. It's fur coat was a sienna brown color, like a mixture of blue and orange. It's fur coat also pulsed strangely, in an off-and-on motion, in which it's body would emanate like the flames of the Nibi's fur. The number of tails it had, curled up close to its body, were simply nine, much like the Kyūbi. It's paws, however, were an inky blue color. From what he'd seen, it had the same number of whisker marks like he and his sister shared: just four; two on each cheek. The only difference was that the creature's were more defined, thicker than theirs ever were.

When it had opened its eyes, most likely having sensed his presence, to stare in perplexity, Boruto immediately got the chills but couldn't look away. Yet, he couldn't look away from the reddish-yellow eyes that seemed to look through his very soul, questioning him with unasked questions. It carried this childlike innocence, unknowing where it was and why it was there to begin with. For that, Boruto couldn't get angry at this newborn creature. Despite it'd been siphoning much of his chakra to form, he simply couldn't get angry. In a strange twist, this was a procreation of the Nibi and Kyūbi, with the latter being a personal family friend. The beast couldn't speak, apparently, but the blond knew it wanted to ask questions he didn't have the correct answers to.

At least then, he didn't.

All it knew was that it was inside a place and it had familiarized itself within his body, like a home. That's where it'd been born, and it didn't know anything else outside of it. In a creepy sense, Boruto felt like a surrogate mother carrying someone else's child. That was the impression he got. The kit, kitten, whatever it was called, was in danger just like he and his sister. Orochimaru would enslave the poor thing and force its chakra much like his father utilized the Nine-Tails, but in a much more savage way. The son of the Orange Hokage wouldn't allow such a vile thing to happen to the young creature. He hadn't been raised to do so, and he wouldn't revert into such either.

Shaking out of his memories, he felt a prick of chakra bubbling up in his chest and knew it was the young Tailed Beast grabbing his attention. It was still a child, but having been linked to its host's senses ever since it was 'born', it could practically feel his emotions running high and desperation clung to him like a barnacle. It seemed to nudge him to the right. Trusting instinct and its direction, Boruto turned to his sister.

"Himawari, this way." The eight-year-old nodded and ran with her brother, their hands latched onto one another like an unbreakable chain. She stumbled a bit along the way, but the firm grip her older brother had on her wouldn't allow her to fall down.

With his limited Sage Mode active, Boruto could sense traces of unfamiliar chakra and spot them, taking paths that appeared free of such discharge. He was tempted to ask his sister to use her stimulated Byakugan to see any exit points, but wouldn't risk her health. No, he wouldn't dare to. Not after all that hell that man put her through. Just thinking about it made his blood boil, however, the chakra monster currently housed inside him soothed his frustrations—barely—to a minimal amount. That's right. He had to be thinking clearly in order to get his sister and himself to safety. It was the job of the older sibling and he'd do whatever it took to achieve it.

They had to survive and make it home.

Just as soon as they turned another corner, an explosion caught them off guard!

"Eeeeyaaah!" Himawari cried as she and Boruto were blown away from the impact. They both crumbled to the ground, with her brother shielding her from further flying debris. The older of the two cringed as shrapnel of the steel wall and rock underneath it collided with his bare back, exposing him to pain once more. But, he held out because he couldn't afford to let his baby sister be harmed in any way anymore.

"Ku, ku, ku..." that unmistakable laugh, that heinous chakra signature was back. Hissing sounds, the sound of snakes, were suddenly all around them! The Uzumaki siblings quickly huddled against each other with Boruto taking a defensive stance before his sister. Himawari clutched his pants with her life, staying as close as her body could to her brother. Her blue eyes watered, tears spilling down her abused cheeks as terror gripped her heart. They'd been found!

The blond glared at the summons, daring any of them to make a move. His eyes were still that in the sage, and soon, the bubbling red chakra of the Tailed Beast ignited around him in a cloak, producing just one tail's worth. His eyes transformed, a vertical slit running through each and his whisker marks thickened to equal the beast's. Boruto had absolutely no mastery of this potent chakra, having once been submitted to its blood lust, but the creature gave a silent notion of assurance to shield him from the insanity that came along with it. Himawari, while very close, wasn't harmed by it in any way, also thanks to the unnamed chakra monster.

"Dammit..." he hissed out.

"Mm, indeed my pet. Where are you two going in such a hurry? Is there a party I forgotten about? I do say, it would be nice to invite everyone to it, wouldn't you think?" Orochimaru's form came out from the smoke, grinning that stupid and freakish grin of his. Just seeing the snake man made Boruto snarl.

"Shut your face!" The blond snapped, a whizzing sound of rotating chakra forming in his left hand. It formed slowly but surely, a small ball of yellow-mixed-with red chakra, appearing orange, in his palm.

"Tsk. The Rasengan again. Don't fool around with that old trick, Boruto."

"It's my father's and grandfather's technique! It's my rite of passage as a shinobi of Konoha. Speaking of which, I'm going to kick your ass all the way to Konoha with it!"

"Hm, very well then," the snake sannin gestured in a way that said 'bring it', taunting the twelve-year-old. "Let's see you back up your wild claim."

Boruto knew he was tempting him. If he bull rushed him impatiently, that would no doubt leave his sister unprotected. The snakes would grab her before he had time to turn around to save her. He was nearly a sitting duck with the formed Rasengan in his hand. If he didn't hit something with it soon, it'd self implode and take his hand with it. If only he could throw it like a Rasenshuriken, like his father...

"NII-CHAN!" Himawari's panicked scream kicked his senses into overdrive and he hurried to turn. A snake summon was bold enough to strike and bite at his sister! Well, tough luck!

"HAAAH!" the blond slammed the spiraling sphere into the snake, inches before it could sink its teeth into his sister's leg. The girl cried out again and Boruto swung around to kick another coming for her, determined burning in his heart. Using that strength tuckered out sage mode and it left him, leaving his eyes normal. Well, as normal as possible; they were still in semi-possessed red, the color of the beast's. Boruto made sure Himawari was still clutching him, still near him, before focusing his attention on the snakes and Orochimaru.

"It appears you can function even with using the newly formed demon's chakra coursing through you. After all, it technically is your chakra recirculating back into your system, only much fouler due to the others it absorbed."

Boruto didn't say anything, only glared as his response.

"It'll be marvelous knowing I'll have a body worthy to tame such a creature very soon." The siblings shuddered and attempted to back away as the man started approaching. "Very delectable. I simply cannot wait."

"You're not going to get away with this," Boruto stated firmly, never letting up his patented glare. "My father's going to find you and end you. And you don't want to be here when he's pissed off."

"Mm, Naruto Uzumaki is a family man. Having been ostracized as a child for being the Kyubi brat. He craves family. So yes, he will most certainly come," Orochimaru said casually, as if he were talking about the weather. "Not to worry. I have a Plan B, should he come here unauthorized and uninvited. I welcome the challenge." Hearing of this 'Plan B' didn't sit well with the pair under his scrutiny. "Now then, where were we? Ah yes. Boruto, you're due for a test and little Himawari for another examination. Come children, don't be stubborn and come quietly. I'll be sure to make it as painless as possible."

Himawari gasped and squeaked as her brother tensed up even further, the demonic cloak bubbling his skin and burning the area around him fiercer than ever. "**Don't you dare lay a finger on her!**" the blond growled out, his voice deepening as his teeth elongated and nails into fangs, a secondary chakra tail forming in his rage. "**Don't talk like you own us! We don't belong to you!**"

"My my, temper, temper. We won't have any of that." With a malicious smirk, Orochimaru gave a silent command to the Curse Seal on the boy's neck. The mark began to pulse and soon, Boruto fell down in an agonizing twitch, convulsing, screaming in pain as the cloak and the mark tore into his body.

"Nii-chan!" Himawari shouted in worry, sobbing her eyes out. She looked up to Orochimaru, who stood there with an impassive, yet masochistic smile on his face. "Stop! Stop it! Stop hurting him! Don't hurt my nii-chan anymore!"

The snake sannin ignored her cries and simply snapped his fingers. The instant it left his hands, the summons began surrounding the girl and forcibly removing her away from her brother. In desperation, she held onto his pants leg, refusing to let go.

"No! No! Let go of me! Let go of me! NII-CHAN!" Himawari screamed and kicked but couldn't do much with her injuries except that. The snakes finally ripped her away from the blond on the floor, who was clutching his neck and arching his body upwards uncontrollably. His wounds both healed and burned simultaneously from the influx of the demonic chakra circulating through and around him. By silent order, the snakes took her away, the only sound was her hollering voice of her brother's name.

"You're such a naughty boy, Boruto. You should have listened and now you and your sister will suffer further," Orochimaru tsked plainly as if watching people having panic attacks on the floor, writhing in pain, was an everyday occurrence. The sannin knelt down next to the suffering child, smiling with no emotion behind it, whispering into his ear, "Say the word, Boruto. Just say it, and all this pain will end."

Despite his body lashing out in pain, the blond's head twitched in the man's direction, a snarl present on his face. "Go to hell." The boy managed to choke out.

Tsking again, the black-haired sannin simply shook his head before intensifying the Curse Seal, giving both pain to the boy and pleasure to himself. After all, he was slowly injecting his soul into the boy, tempting the mind to utilize the power. He could also use this intense surge to cause internal suffering into the target, much worse than the silly Caged Bird Seal the Hyūga Clan had once used on its Branch members.

The boy's pained cries increased until his vocals gave in and he passed out. The red chakra receded back into the seal, and the child's once red eyes reverted to their true color, blue, just before his eyelids closed. The last conscious thing Boruto saw was the gleam in that snake bastard's eyes.

-x- Unknown Time Lapse -x-

Boruto opened his eyes, sluggishly, and waited for them to adjust to the odd lighting in the area. His mouth hung open as saliva leaked out from the corner. His head felt extremely dizzy, as if he had a massive headache and his body felt all types of numb. _Dammit, we got caught again..._ He thought bitterly, slowly raising his left arm and placing it over his eyes and forehead in attempt to calm the raging headache, to no avail. _That bastard... If he does anything more to Hima-chan, I'm going to gut him with a Rasengan!_ While his threat was well placed, he knew he wouldn't be able to land a hit on the snake sannin.

For one, he was only a genin. He'd graduated two years before the actual genin age of fourteen. It was the age preference for genin, having been bumped up since his father had taken the reigns as the Seventh Hokage.

_Father._

Remembering the last words his father had spoken to him, Boruto began to shed tears. His father gave him a talk, but instead of it being the usual 'you're in trouble' talk, it was a father and son bonding moment. He'd taken time off to spend with him and it elated him to no end. He showed off his hitai-ate and proudly shouted that he was going to be the best shinobi ever. While he still disliked his father's role as Hokage, he understood it better and knew why. He still loved the man behind the hat, who gave him, his sister and mother all the attention and love he could ever muster. There had been a time when he thought his father showered them with too much attention, and he had found out the man had lived a lonely childhood with no family of his own and wanted one so much.

It had made sense and Boruto never brought it up again, only soaked up the love he was given.

_"Remember Boruto. You are a son and a brother before you are a shinobi. One I am proud of, no matter what. Remember that, to be a shinobi, one must endure. You'll face some situations that might get out of hand. But don't let that hinder you. You'll have your teammates and friends with you to help you. Kakashi-sensei taught Team 7 this: those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash. Don't forget, son."_

_I didn't forget, tou-chan._ Boruto thought, trying to keep his sniffling to a minimum. _I protected Himawari with everything I have. I never abandoned her... But she still got hurt. Do big brothers letting their little sisters get hurt count as 'trash', too? If so, then I'm the biggest trash ever to exist. I failed her, tou-chan. No matter what I did... it wasn't enough..._

A soft and familiar whine broke him of his tearful thoughts, steering him into sudden awareness. He hadn't known he was within his own mind, on the floor of the surface. Boruto groggily sat up and turned to see the young Tailed Beast staring at him with sad, concerned ruby eyes. It was lying on its paws, with its nine tails waving behind it. Now that he noticed, the tips of the tails were coated in a darker brown and the tips of its ears were the same as its paws. When it sat up to mimic his actions, it also looked like the Kyūbi a little—having what appeared to be opposable digits of the forepaws.

The child creature had its ears back, a frowning expression—if it can be called that—on its face. Much like a cage or seal intact would be for a tailed beast, around the creature's neck was a chained collar of sorts that restricted its movements to a certain degree. The tethered chain from it expanded and centered in one spot while others sprouted outwards into the emptiness of the mindscape. The imagery of the boy's mind, once sporting a replica of the beautiful Konoha, was warped. There were still grass like images and the trees that surrounded the village, but most of the scenery didn't carry the happiness the host currently felt. The cheerfulness seemed to drown out and replace with fear and anger instead.

Knowing its gaze was on him, the blond sighed heavily and dried his tears as best as possible. "It's... It's not your fault, okay?" he tried to comfort the small, well for its size, cat-fox. It didn't seem to understand completely but it lied back down, still staring at the boy with those eyes. Boruto suddenly felt guilty.

"Don't... don't look at me that way..."

"**Ru... very...sad.**"

The Konoha genin jolted a little at the sound of the voice. He was staring at the kit/kitten with a mixture of awe and shock. It... it spoke! Somehow, it matured enough to finally speak! He'd been hoping it would so they could communicate easier than through silent gestures. Perhaps, perhaps now they could form some plan. Even if the creature was newborn in a way, having two Tailed Beast as parents, with those two merged consciousness form into its own would at least let it have some form of wisdom.

"You talked!" Boruto exclaimed excitedly. Thinking quickly, he asked, "I've been meaning to ask. What's your name?"

The nine-tailed cat-fox wiggled its tiny nose and shifted a little before shaking its head. "**Kit no name. Ru... need friend. Learn by Ru talk.**"

Oh. It learned by overhearing what he said. Boruto blushed a bit, knowing a lot of his vocabulary as of recently wasn't any good influence for a newborn chakra monster. _Man, Matatabi-san and Kurama-ojisan would flip if they heard about this...wait._ That's right. Both tailed beasts, the ones mostly responsible for the creature's creation, had no clue about its existence! If somehow he showed up housing an unknown Bijū, it'd set things into confusion. But, what if they were aware of the change, the shift in balance? To be honest, Boruto had not a clue.

Filing that away for a bit, the blond turned his attention to his hopeful Bijū friend. "Well, um, we have to call you something. Referring to yourself as 'Kit' wouldn't be a good idea... Um..." He scratched his head, trying to rack his brain for some sort of idea. The pup simply studied his movements in wonder. In a way, it felt like the boy in front of it was its father, its container. It'd been aware of his presence ever since its consciousness was formed underneath all the chakra. But it was also aware that two other presences had helped its creation. It shared physical traits with those two and also wanted to seek them out. For now, it only had eyes on the boy in front of it.

"Mm... Huh, since you're technically born from Matatabi and Kurama's chakra... Maybe I should call you 'Mabi'!" The cat-fox blinked in rising curiosity as the words slipped out the blond's mouth.

"**Mabi?**" It tested out the name's pronunciation—Boruto now noticing it had a soft, young boyish voice.

"Yeah. ...Do you like it?" After all, he wasn't good with names. He wondered if the terrible naming was a hereditary trait, since he had no idea where or why his father named him 'Boruto', after a bolt. Then again, his parental grandparents thought it'd be cool to name said father after some ramen topping. He had no idea how incorrect he was but he'd never really question it til now. The cat-fox tilted its—his—head, trying to familiarize with the new name he'd been labeled as. After a while, his face melted into a tender smile.

"**Mabi likes...name very...much.**"

Boruto grinned his and his father's trademark 'foxy grin' before giving the kit a thumbs up. "Awesome!" His face slowly faded into a frown. "But, now the problem is getting out of here. The bad man, Orochimaru is going to make you do bad things, Mabi, if he takes my body." Blue eyes met light ruby colored ones as his frown deepened. "That means you won't be able to help me anymore..."

"**Mabi... want to help... tou-chan.**"

"Huh? 'Tou-chan'?" The blond wondered. Did he mean Kurama? Or...

"**Ru... is tou-chan. Mabi help him.**" Oh. _Oh. _That...wasn't good. Referring to a human as a father. Then again, the other Tailed Beasts did the same thing to the Sage of Six Paths, also called Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki. A swell, a feeling of sudden pride in his gut made him smile at the title of 'father' from the young creature. Boruto was far from parenthood, and he definitely wasn't skilled nor patient enough to raise a pet, but this... this was something close to both a child and house pet he'd get. He wouldn't treat Mabi any differently than his sister or any person. He wasn't anything less or more; someone he would be able to count on even more in the future as a companion.

"Well, Mabi. Tou-chan needs to get his sister and himself out of the bad man's lab," Boruto said, tapping his chin. "Thank you for giving me your chakra earlier. It was a big help." Mabi seemingly shuffled bashfully at the praise, similarly to himself when he was getting shy for whatever reason. Maybe personality passed on from his chakra being siphoned too?

"**Mabi only help tou-chan...beat snake. But not... help much. Snake... win.**" The kit frowned and lowered his ears again, appearing to cry, given how his bottom lip was quivering. Panicking, the blond shot up as quickly as he could and walked to the neko-kitsune's side as fast as he could.

"Hey, hey, don't cry! It's okay, we'll have to think of something, okay?" Only a large tear drop landed on Boruto's head, dousing him. He shook himself to get the water away from his own eyes and tried to placate the pup as much as possible. "I'm not hurt anymore, thanks to you. So, let's... Ah!" He toppled over, only because something outside his body was happening. Mabi tripped over his own feet, still unsure how to walk just yet, and clumsily fumbled over all nine of his tails.

"What was that..." Boruto wondered and thought to check out what was going on in the living realm. Before leaving, he gave Mabi a reassuring smile. "I'll be back, Mabi. Okay?" The cat-fox cub managed to sit up and nod quietly, watching as his appointed father leave his mindscape to the waking world.

-x- Unknown Chamber -x-

As soon as Boruto opened his eyes, this time to his body, he realized a few things. 1) He was lying on the cold, steel floor; 2) there was dim lighting everywhere that made it hard for his eyes to adjust to—but he managed; 3) having turned his head as much as he could, he saw intricate designs that resembled fūinjutsu spread around his body; 4) he heard the cries of Himawari calling to him.

Himawari crying.

Shit.

The blond tried his best to get up but found himself unable to. He was heavily depleted of chakra, his physical energy was nearly gone and not to mention, he was suffering from malnutrition. His body had been running on fumes alone this whole time since his kidnapping. Determination brewed through his body as he fought his unknown restraints to get to wherever he heard his baby sister. "H-H-Hima... Himawari...!" He croaked out, his voice obviously hoarse from its last use of screaming. By kami's blessing, the girl, wherever she was, heard him.

"...N-Nii-chan..."

Boruto heavily noted his sister's voice was as hoarse as his, as if she'd been subjected to her own torture. Thinking of this set him on high alert and he willed himself to struggle again. He stopped, however, when he felt a tickle of energy that wasn't his entering his system. Eyes wide, he attempted to lift his head from where it was, barely spotting where his sister's form was. He nearly gagged at the sight before him.

Himawari seemed to be hooked up to a machine, and by the looks of it, it appeared to drain her of her chakra. Little bits of it had entered his system, which was why he felt the tickle not long ago. One thing clicked in his mind; Orochimaru, that monster, was _killing_ his sister to fuel him! "S...stop! Stop it!" He cried as much as his voice could offer, but it was far too weak, far too soft to have any impact. His lungs couldn't give him the vigor he was known for.

"Ku, ku, ku, so you've finally awakened. I see you like your new chakra battery." Orochimaru's voice sounded from somewhere but the blond didn't care.

"Let her go." Boruto wished he had his voice back to yell angrily.

"That request I cannot fulfill. She was much too weak to transfer into. You were still alive and kicking but low on energy. I'd make brother and sister's reunion much more appealing if she supplied her beloved 'nii-chan' her life source."

He struggled but whatever was holding him back didn't budge. "You're killing her!" He didn't get any response other than a deep, irritable chuckle. Footsteps echoed around, signifying that the man was leaving. "H-Hey! Get back here...!"

"Boruto, when I come back, your little body will be mine and your sister discarded. As I said before, enjoy your precious moments of freedom. You'll soon be mine—"

An emergency alarm beeped to life, signaling the snake sannin. His serpentine eyes narrowed, knowing exactly why it cut off. He simply looked up and grinned. "Mm, it appears we have intruders. I do suppose it must be your father." Orochimaru turned back to the children he held hostage. "But, my work isn't complete just yet. It's time to move to Plan B, just in case your infuriating daddy comes to ruin my plans." Several tremors shook the entire place as a force stronger than anything the world had faced dropped in. The aura it radiated was beyond anger, beyond irritation. It read pissed off to the nth degree.

Hurrying, Orochimaru unstrapped the weakened boy, his newest vessel, disabling the instrument that was slowly draining Himawari of her chakra. The blond attempted to struggle, but it was no use. He couldn't even get free of the man's grip! "L-L-Let go of me!" He tried and tried to squirm away but to no avail. His arms felt like lead and his legs and voice barely responded to his urgency to kick and scream for help. "H-H-Hima-w-wari!" His voice didn't reach her this time as he was led away from the chamber.

The snake sannin and child were in another room, this time, it was set up with a fūinjutsu identical to the one he'd been lying on earlier. However, this time it was connected to a device, a portal drive. It was shaped with a circular, flat surface, big enough to hold five grown shinobi or kunoichi at once. It had been designed by Orochimaru himself, once the technology of the Elemental Nations skyrocketed. It was a transporter, however its qualities were special. While it could send one person or many through to another location in the world, the Snake Sannin had a different purpose for it.

He set the squirming child on the device and stepped away as he activated it through the use of the fūinjutsu. Rings of light sprung to life, centering around the boy, holding him down as if some force of gravity. Boruto hissed as he felt some force pull him in different directions, as if being stretched and flattened onto a surface. In reality, his body was just subjected to the gravitational pull of the portal drive. Shutting his eyes as his headache returned, the Uzumaki groaned out, "What... what are you d-doing...?"

"Sending you somewhere your father will never find you, but I will."

This utterly baffled the cringing boy but he ignored it in favor of getting more answers. "Why are you doing this?"

Orochimaru chose not to answer. He knew his time was just about up as the terror of the aura was tearing through his underground base at fast paced speeds. The portal was nearly done. _With this, I'll send my essence, my memories along with the child. It'll take too much time to transport the both of us. _He's _coming and very soon... It's only a matter of time..._

_**BAAROOOM! BADABOOM!**_

The Sannin tensed as the explosions grew louder and closer. Much closer than he anticipated. He allowed a grin to cross his expression. For one, no one was as determined as an angry Naruto Uzumaki was to his family, and two, the portal drive was complete.

_**CRASH!**_

Just in time, too.

Standing with a murderous look in his face, was the Seventh Hokage, in all his blinding glowing glory of the Kyūbi's cloak. His red eyes switched from Orochimaru, the man responsible for the kidnapping of _his_ kids, to his son, who was in obvious pain and torment. Naruto Uzumaki clenched his fists and snarled. He was absolutely livid. Once upon a time, his partner would have thrown a graceful party at the amount of anger, hatred and negativity he set all at once in this whole scene. However, right now, said Bijū concentrated on the perpetrator responsible for his host's and said host's wife so much grief.

"Aa, the Kyūbi finally joins. It's a shame you came too late."

Naruto said nothing. Instead, he let his fists do the talking and struck forward. Orochimaru had no chance to completely dodge. He was punched—_hard—_in the stomach, sent flying into the wall opposite of the one the Hokage had stormed through, quite literally. Just as he was about to step forward again to rend hellish nightmare upon the vile, despicable _thing_ in front of him, his eyes captured the troubled ones of his son.

"T... tou-chan..."

His son's voice was too weak, too sad for his liking. It shouldn't be that way. It was just like Himawari's, who was now safe with Sasuke in the other room with Sakura in tow healing her of her injuries. They were supposed to be full of life and happiness. The sight of his children harmed made his blood boil fast, hotter than lava in a volcano and it made him seethe with rage. Nobody messes with his family and gets away with it.

"Boruto, hang in there. I'll get you out of there."

The boy gave him a crooked, relieved smile.

"Ku, ku, ku, not so fast Naruto," Orochimaru said, rising from his collapse previously. Kurama's Jinchūriki noticed him but still set himself to punching his son out the contraption. "I wouldn't be so hasty... if I were you... For you see, you won't be seeing your brat again..." Before Naruto had a chance to speak, the portal drive initiated. Boruto's eyes widened as he felt himself being pushed away, far away. He and his father only shared one painful glance before the pressure disspated and then it was no more. Darkness had over come him. He was gone.

Gone.

Gone.

Boruto was _gone_.

In disbelief, Naruto turned to the only source that could have done this. His shock formed into righteous fury, his ire untamable as his body went rigid. As he neared the black-haired sannin, Orochimaru began to speak of his plans regarding the man's son. Each word was met with a punch or a kick, all sending the slippery snake to the ground or into the nearest wall, destroying it and giving it a man-sized hole to accompany. Naruto wanted him to feel his pain, his wrath, his anger. Deep down, he knew this was contradicting the peace he had wanted and had attained a manageable piece, a sliver of it for years now. But this... This _monster_ had no right to kidnap his children and use them in such disgusting ways. Not even Sasuke had been treated like that.

"...hehe... heh... Naruto. Such a temper you have. But... it's too late to save your boy. My essence was sent with him. It will merge with my past self's consciousness. I will seek the Sharingan in the past while obtaining my new body. Turning your son into a Jinchūriki will be a bonus for me. All the power... I will obtain immortality with my future Rinnegan. ...Imagine it with a Byakugan... The Rinne Sharingan will be mine—guukh!"

The sannin fell dead from a deliberate stab from a katana behind him. Naruto didn't even blink, knowing exactly who it was.

"That man was annoying, I can't believe I actually went to him for power."

The cloak around the Seventh Hokage flickered out, returning him to normal. His blue eyes, once full of luster, seemed to have died instantaneously. His focus was on the machine, the portal drive, however. "How is she, Sasuke." He asked in a somber voice. The not-so-last Uchiha put his sword away—once wiping the blood off—and replied.

"Sakura said she'll make it. She needs to get to the hospital as soon as possible, however, to stabilize her from her trauma and loss of blood." Naruto acknowledged his response but appeared frozen in his place. The spot where his son had been. Where he'd been right under his touch. He slipped through. He was gone. His heart nearly stopped at the thought of his little boy, who had just made genin, gone from his sight.

One devastation after another.

Sasuke placed his only hand on his friend's shoulder in attempt to comfort him. "Naruto... I know it's hard now. We'll find a way to get him back. Right now, your daughter needs you."

"...I know Sasuke..." His voice sounded so lifeless, so terrified. "...But what the hell am I going to tell Hinata..." His lackluster blue eyes met with his friend's single black, "That our son was right in front of me and I couldn't save him...?" The Uchiha didn't know how else to reply to his friend. He'd gone through a massacre at such a young age. He experienced loss twice already. He'd be absolutely livid and crushed if anything happened to his beloved Sarada. At the moment, he felt it had happened to his daughter. Boruto was her friend, even if she wouldn't admit it. The two were close and were teammates on the same squad. Just as Naruto wouldn't know what to tell his wife.

Sasuke didn't know how to tell his daughter, who was back home, worried for the friend she might believe she'll never see again.

* * *

Note: Hope you guys like this first chapter. It took me two days to finish since I wanted it up and running a bit before UnH's Chapter 2, which is well underway by the way.

1) I was unoriginal with the name of the new Tailed Beast. 'Mabi' is a (sad) combination of Kura**ma** and Matata**bi**. But, curiously enough, it's also a location in Japan, called Mabi-chō, in the Okayama Prefecture. _Mabi_ by itself is 真備 in Japanese.

2) Next chapters will be Rated T throughout.

3) Mabi is basically the size of the Tailed Beasts when they were first created. The species "cat-fox" literally exists, but I altered it in a way that I found appealing when doodling it. I have no idea what they really look like aside from the fact they seem look like fossa.

4) If you have any questions or whatever, please leave a review. Flames shall be used to burn Orochimaru, whom I villainized in this story. If you see errors, let me know, too!


	2. Everything Hereafter

Thanks for the support. I'm going to start using some translated terms over the Japanese ones, like 'dad' for 'tousan'. Sounds better to me, imo. This chapter is pure third-person Boruto POV. Apologies for the imagery when you see it—I might bump this up to an M if it's too...scenic?

Enjoy!

(Chapter title inspiration: Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.)

* * *

Breakthrough  
発見  
_Hakken_

2: Everything Hereafter

* * *

_Inhale. Exhale._

The task was hard even while in a state of sleep he was induced into. When he got his bearings together, he realized that he had been shut into his mindscape once again. His breath was laboriously taxing on his person and no matter how much he tried to alleviate it, his lungs felt punctured with each drawn breath, slowly dragged through with his nostrils or otherwise. It hurt to move, to blink, to do anything that required said inch of movement. The only thing he _could _do was groan in overwhelming agony as he tried his hardest to calm his nerves and the massive headache that currently felt like it was threatening to split his forehead. His fair locks matted against his face, nearly glued there with his own perspiration. The boy shivered and the cause didn't lie in his being cold either. He hated this; he hated being and feeling so _weak _and _useless_.

His entire body felt like lead and the pressure of the headache didn't help any. He just wanted to _open his eyes_ and _move_. If only he could.

"...s-stupid..." The blond-haired youth grumbled out, though it sounded more like gibberish slurring than actual words itself. Gods, this pain was unbearable! If only he could just die and let it all go. Dying would be a better medicine to this intolerable agony he was currently undergoing. Silently berating himself, he kept trying to move, to get his body to work on the outside. No such luck. His mind was in a haze; whatever happened that made him so weak, he couldn't quite remember. He just wished he was at home, in bed, and with his little sister snuggled up beside him like she used to when she had nightmares—

Wait.

Sister.

_Himawari!_

Raw determination pooled through his overused and tuckered out muscles. He _forcefully _worked them into overdrive. He needed to move. He had to make sure his sister was all right! The previous days, weeks or whatever that had passed when they had been taken by that freak flashed before his eyes. All the pain the memories brought fueled his desire to _get the hell up _and just move. But, as much as his desire was worthy and strong, his body was unresponsive to said desire to get up. Moving even a tiny inch was a chore and a half, and as his friend Shikadai would say, "a pain in the ass." The preteen groaned in frustration. He felt like a ton of weight had been dropped on his chest and the restraint was far too heavy to manually remove. Dammit!

_Inhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Cough._

His breathing was speeding up, he realized. He was panicking, sure signs of it. Was his sister all right? The gruesome memory, the last time he had seen his sibling was her looking so lifeless before him. That man—no, that _monster—_was using her as a form of a chakra battery for him. That bastard didn't want his "precious" new body to wither away. So, he'd have to settle for losing a potential, force driven Byakugan for the sake of keeping him alive. That scumbag. The more he thought about it, the deeper his face twisted into a fierce scowl. How dare he. How _dare _he!

But-! In another faint memory, hazy as he had been, he remembered his father. That's right; his father had come, blasting in and radiating power! He remembered that snake freak placing him upon some strange contraption that held him in place before said parent entered on scene. Something about it's design was vaguely familiar—that's right, the signs of some fuinjutsu were there. That was the source of his magnetism to the machine.

Then there was some strange light the moment he and his father exchanged a brief glance towards one another. He remembered feeling like something was sucking him in, like a vaccum cleaner. After that? Complete and utter darkness. Slowly piecing these together, the youth tiredly sighed and slowly snapped a hand into his hair in irritation. It was real, all of it was. The whole thing; his kidnapping, the fast paced experiments on his sister and himself and the torture. All that pain—it was too real to ignore. To believe it hadn't happened. Even the look of fear he saw in his father's eyes the last few moments he shared with him. Somehow, someway, that snake freak won.

The boy grunted as he remembered the words Orochimaru had last said to him:

"_Sending you somewhere your father will never find you, but I will."_

He knew he wasn't a very intelligent lad like his friend Shikadai but he'd pride himself on piecing things together a little faster. His mother had taught him better, and even if he hardly listened to Shino-sensei at the Academy, he wasn't a deadlast. A loud prankster sure, but not a failing student. His mother wouldn't settle for low marks.

But when it came down to this, the boy knew, _knew _he was nowhere near anyone he recognized or near his home country. Orochimaru must have used that machine to whisk him away, somewhere far where he believed his father wouldn't be able to find him. The Nanadaime's son briefly chuckled quietly to himself; that snake bastard didn't know his dad as well as he thought. The fact remains that he was most likely somewhere else, very far from that laboratory and from his home village, Konoha. Even further from his friends and family. His mother, his sister, his father, his grandfather, his aunt...

'_Come on Boruto, pull yourself together!_' the boy scolded himself, trying to stop himself from shedding any tears. His attempt at coaching himself was in vain; the warm, traitorous tears rolled down his cheeks regardless of his stubborn resistance. In the moment, he felt like the small, little three year old boy who wanted to be hugged and loved by his parents. He wanted to be enveloped in their embrace, safe and sound, with no worries to care about. With such high strung emotion rolling off him in waves, he felt like he would be alone forever, without the presence of his family, without fulfilling his dreams. Would he die without them knowing where he was now? Would he die knowing the only thing he ever accomplished in life was being a prankster? As only an experiment, a new body just for Orochimaru? Never known as a ninja of Konoha?

Was he doomed to such a miserable end?

Perhaps, this was karma kicking his ass for what he'd done in the past. Perhaps, this was his reward for being a brat, for hating his father at one point, for being disrespectful and taking things for granted. The stories revolving around the near endless hardships of the Elemental Nations seemed like a fairytale, even if it was historically recorded. The trials and hardships his father and every shinobi had gone through to fight for peace and finally achieve a sliver of it before the dark days of the Warring Era. Where everyone was in relative harmony with one another—all major villages had peace with another. There had been no need for fighting, but... Who knew when someone would come and threaten that peace again? They had to be ready.

Still, even after being told that, he continued being childish. Being the son of the Hokage felt draining more than anything. The youth had no idea how lucky he was to be born and grow up in an era of peace, similarly to how his parents were. But what was the point of this peace if he and his sister were victims to people who would want to disrupt it?

Having a few moments to himself, Boruto silently wept at his current situation, the circumstances and thoughts. He knew he shouldn't be crying—he was a shinobi, and that technically made him an adult, right? Well, not until he reached chūnin rank. Whatever; the point was, he was too old to be sitting here sniffling and crying about all his woes. Surely, someone out there had it much worse than this, right? Yeah. He couldn't afford to be sitting on his butt and doing nothing about this. If his parents stopped crying about their hardships then he could do the same. While he still lied about on the floor of his mindscape, Boruto sniffled one last time and wiped his face to clear them of his tears. That snake bastard might have done away with him to prevent his father from saving him, but he wouldn't, no he _couldn't_, let him get the last laugh. There was no way in hell he would allow him to use his body for whatever sick and twisted crap he had planned.

It ached even in here to sit up but the boy did anyhow, wincing with every strained muscle he used. For such a simple task, it felt like he'd had Metal Lee's ridiculous weights strapped to his body while moving through water. Boruto never felt so lethargic in his life; he silently paid respects to the elder folk who had to deal with such an issue on a daily basis. With that daunting task out of the way, Boruto heaved and attempted to get to his feet. In order to move, he had to wake up his body, right?

Carefully, the preteen moved his arms behind him, the palms pressed to the ground to exert the necessary energy into pushing his body upwards. His knees locked up, and he hissed light curses under his breath when he felt the cramps of discomfort lace up through his legs almost instantly. They were predominantly ached around his thighs. Still, he gradually shifted one leg, a slow pace at a time, under him. The other followed suit although not as smoothly.

Boruto gasped and heaved at the exertion; he could hardly wait to see if his outside body could do in comparison to this in the mindscape. He should be able to move freely and without pain in here, right? Maybe his physical pain transferred into mental pain—that seemed to be the only plausible cause he could think of. With a deep breath, the boy arched his body forward a little, his arms swinging around to push himself up from in front. His laggard movement seemed to take forever, but eventually, he was on his feet. He almost tripped on his own feet but quickly caught himself at the last second, exerting even more energy. Gosh dangit, could he be any weaker?

Then again, it was Orochimaru's fault he was so tired.

Once he was to his feet and steady enough, he took another deep breath and closed his eyes. However, before he could take the reigns of his body, he heard a soft whimpering from behind him. Snapping his eyes open once more, the boy turned his head to look over his shoulder, a bit surprised that something or rather, someone else, was here in his own mind. Who was there? He was just about to pronounce that question verbally when he locked gazes with a very familiar pair of eyes that belonged to a familiar creature. One eye, the left, seemed to glow in a golden yellow hue while the other was an orange-red tone. The fur upon its body was a sienna brown color, with occasional flame-like patterns scattered across it, blinking on and off like a light switch. When he saw the long, nine bushy tails waving behind the creature, something in his mind clicked and the memories flashed and recognition were in his eyes. Boruto's expression softened and he tried to give the creature a smile.

He was relieved in a way that the small—at least, for his size—Tailed Beast was still there. Mabi was still with him. Perhaps he wasn't so alone as he originally thought; he'd forgotten someone else was suffering just as much as he was.

"I'm sorry," Boruto apologized to the bijū, "I did forget you were here, suffering right alongside me. You're as much of a victim as I am. Mabi, can you... forgive me?" The hybrid neko no kitsune tilted his head once sitting up on his hauches. His oddly mismatched eyes stared at the boy, a small smile forming (The queer change of eye color, Boruto filed on the back burner of his mind, however).

"**Mabi understand. Ru... in pain. But he... not alone.**"

That's right. He wasn't alone. The blond sighed though not sadly. Willing himself, the boy slowly but surely walked over towards the nine-tailed hybrid. Each step seemed lackadaisical when executed but he was filled with opposing resolve to travel towards the restrained miniature Bijū. When Boruto reached Mabi, he nearly collasped on the kit. He was grateful his furry companion shifted until he landed into his open paws. Walking was as taxing as getting up, and Boruto would _love _to see how he'd fare running instead, all his sarcasm included.

The comfort of Mabi's warm fur and presence eased his troubles and worries for a moment. Laying there and being held by the construct of chakra made him feel a pinch safer than when trapped in Orochimaru's labs. For a creature like Mabi, who seemed to be made of literal fire like Matatabi-san herself, he was plushy and warm, like a heated pillow. The Seventh Hokage's son wished he could remain like this for a long time. But, that wasn't to be. He had to make sure his external body was fine and figure out where in the world that snake freak sent them.

It seemed his intentions were silently conveyed to Mabi, since he helped him stand and right himself upward. Boruto gave him an appreciative gesture and turned around, closing his eyes. It was time to figure out where they ended up at.

* * *

_**Boruto**_

* * *

The first thing Boruto did when he assumed control of his body, he spread out and regulated his main, bodily core senses. First was smell; with every other main senses temporarily shut out, he leisurely inhaled through his nostrils. Several scents filtered through though among them the strongest were of dampness, like if it had rained recently. He also noticed the air was _clear _and _fresh_, free of those distasteful scents that littered the lab he'd been held prisoner into for a month or so. Boruto found himself taking a few more deep intakes of breath to cleanse the murky junk that he felt were clogging his lungs and airways. As he did so, there were small hints of lingering ash, as if someone had also put out a fire nearby, as well as the smell of wet wood. Was the rain responsible for leaving such a residue behind? Hm, that's peculiar.

When he finiished identifying the smells around him, the boy moved onto the next organ receptor: the sense of hearing. Pushing away all others in favor of capitalizing on listening to his surroundings, Boruto heard the telltales signs of the aforementioned weather he thought he smelled previously. The audible _pit pat pit pat_ of the raindrops falling upon the ground could be deduced as such. '_It is raining or drizzling at the very least,_' he concluded to himself and kept listening out just in case. For a brief moment he heard nothing except the rain water's splattering noises and the faint chirp of crickets in the background. Crickets normally chirp at daybreak or when twilight descends. So, perhaps it was around the early morning or late evening. That was the Konoha genin's estimation—though he wasn't too sure.

Moving onto the next one, he focused all his attention on the sense of touch. Using as little movement as he could, whether simply rolling his shoulders into small circles or gripping his hands, he estimated what he was doing or where he was at, in regards to landscape. It was definitely muddy, and there were hints of grass underneath him as well. His fingers had the unfortuate pleasure of being subjected to grabbing mud and caking it between his fingers. For Boruto, he'd rather be gripping said mud than anything else. It was a sure sign he was _outside _than indoors. For that, he was relatively glad. The rain, he was ever glad to feel it splashing upon his filthy body; he was certain he was dirty and probably smelled of snake, labs and other unsanitary scents. He felt unclean in many more ways than one and he was sure he had "dirt" in places he didn't know he had. Yes; the rain was _very _welcome. The airy yet damp breeze it carried with it was also welcomed, too.

Once he finished relishing in the slight deluge, he moved onto the next organ sense: taste. He was sure he'd savor the feeling of water in his mouth once he opened it. Boruto only did for a fraction and was granted such the pleasure of tasting the salty flavor of rainwater. At this point, he didn't mind nor care—it was refreshing and sought out memories he enjoyed in his past. Undergoing such a sensational experience like this right now, he felt more relief wash over him. He smelled rain, felt rain and tasted the rain. Now, it was time for the last one and hope he really was outside as he sensed so far.

Opening his eyelids was a chore and a half—it felt like sand crust had decided to camp out and seal them shut. It was a bit painful so he opted to open one eye at a time to measure the intensity and smoothly follow suit with the other. His left had more success in lifting the hood of his eye, the haze glossing over it before the focus began to fade out and compelling a form of clarity to encapsulate. What the preteen could make out was just as he thought; dark rainclouds in the skies above him, pouring out their salty, cold tears upon the world and him. The area around him was just as dark, although not as, and some bits of reflective light could be used to make out shapes nearby. Boruto's eye twitched whenever a drop of water splattered on his eyelid and forced him to refocus from about square one every other second but that was fine. Slowly, he attempted to relinquish his right eye from its enclosed prison to no avail—it seemed stuck there or stubbornly refused to open right now.

It didn't matter to him either way. This experience was like a slice of the Pure Land for him after being held captive against his will and tested on like a lab rat. It was pure bliss and Boruto didn't want to get up from where he current lied. With the clean breeze wafting about, the storm running through his fair locks, the feeling of being _alive_, was completely comfortable. He felt a semblance of peace.

'_But, I have to get up if I want to figure out where the heck I wound up at,_' he told himself. The boy exhaled thickly in preparation of moving his body to sit up and eventual stand. Gripping the grimy muck below in both hands, Boruto began the daunting task of simply sitting in an upright position. Unlike in his mindscape where he _felt_ lethargic and pain, in this physical realm of existence he was _in pain_ that he deemed nigh unbearable. The second he shifted his muscles to his backside, he felt as if someone used the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique on him. The pain shot down his spine instantly and he couldn't help but yelp out pathetically.

It hurt so much, this unfathomable agony! Even as a few more tears of betrayal rolled down his cheeks, he clenched his mouth shut and started over. If going slow doesn't work then he'll have to wing it and move faster. Or as fast as his body was willing to go. He knew he was suffering severe chakra exhaustion. He was amazed he was still going—maybe that could be attributed to his undying resolve to endure all the harsh trials he's undergone thus far. He must bear the weight of such tribulation because he was a shinobi and not only just a shinobi but his father's son. '_If Dad could do this, then so can I. Bearing the life of a Jinchūriki, this is... this has to being nothing in comparison to what the older generations had to go through. I'll get through this. I can't let that bastard get the last laugh!_'

Biting his bottom lip, Boruto worked his muscles into overtime, taking what seemed like hours to rise from his muddy bed in the ground to an upright position. The flaming pain laced across his back soon as he settled down from exerting the necessary energy. The grime between his fingers tightened, his hands digging further into the dampness of the dirt to hold himself together. The boy hissed under his breath when he attempted to curl in his legs in preparation for standing. He winced; this was going to be a dozy. Just thinking about putting the effort into trying to stand made him feel a hundred times more slumberous than a hibernating bear in during the winter season.

Unfortunately, he wasn't getting any younger. The only way up was to stand on his feet and look around his area. Preferably before he felt any sign of Orochimaru. The faster he could stand, the faster he could get away from here and find out where to go. '_Okay, on the count of three... 1... 2... 3...!_' Once the mental countdown went off, Boruto charged with an influx of raw willpower to bend his terribly aching knees and thighs and right himself up to his feet, which had lost the feeling in them from the lack of blood circulation. The blond-haired boy cringed, carefully stepping around in the muddy ground with his bare feet to "wake" them up. The grimy gunk squishing between his toes with noticeable _squelch!_ sounds was highly unappealing.

Boruto felt volumes of uncleanliness and unpleasantness right where he stood. Sure he was a boy and he did like playing in the mud—well, when he'd been little. Stomping in the rain in his raincoat with his parents and little sister. Those were the fun days.

He smiled wistfully at the brief memory then frowned immediately when he brushed it aside. His dear sister, Himawari, would never smile like her old self again. Orochimaru corrupted her innocence. She would grow up paranoid for life, and the preteen felt it was his fault. If he had been stronger, she would stayed as innocent as they day she was born until she became a shinobi, too. '_If only... But, I can't rely on the "if's" anymore. What happened has happened. What I can do is work towards to making Himawari happy again. In some way. I'll find it. First, I have to survey my surroundings. Konohamaru-sensei told us that on our first mission outside the village._' It had been an easy C-Rank, even though his Dad seemed a little apprehensive sending his team on it. Boruto chuckled to himself having imagined his father's facial expression that day.

Right now though, the memory was bittersweet. It reminded him of the last thing he had seen, the last time he saw his father. How unlovely that turned out to be.

Now that he was standing to his feet—albeit hunching over a little—through his only opened eye, he surveyed his surrounding area. Just as he'd seen previously, it was dark outside with an overcast of clouds blanketing the sky above. The rain, while not heavy, continued to shower the world with its chilly, salty tears. Boruto could make out a few shapes of trees, some rocks here and there, and feel the mud and grass beneath him. It was unfortunate, after some time idly passed, he had not a clue where was was. The landscape was unfamiliar to him; he'd give Orochimaru's odd skulduggery some credit for accomplishing the task of sending him far away for sure. Boruto briefly recalled the mud caked on his hands and tried to clear them off on his ragged pants as best as he could. With the back of his right hand, he rubbed into it to wipe the crust off, hoping to free it from its closed prison. That had little success, but at least he could use both of his eyes to see—somewhat. Once he grasped the idea of the current area, he tried to think of what to do from here. His drowsiness caught up with him, forcing a choking, dry yawn to escape his lips and cloud his judgment for just a brief moment.

A sniffle or two from his own nostrils brought him back to the present day and he blinked away his sleepiness. Falling asleep now wouldn't help him. It would hinder the tiring progress he made; sitting and standing up were both of those self accomplishments.

'_It looks like I'm in some wooded area. Not as big, given by the boulders I can kind of make out. Maybe I'm still within the Land of Fire? Perhaps... But, facts still point that I have no idea where I am,_' Boruto craned his neck up as far as he could to glance about, hoping to find something familiar to him. No such luck existed for the Konoha genin. '_I need to look around. Might find somewhere I can use to sleep rather than out in the open. Need a fire... Ugh, I wish I learned that Fire Release technique from sensei._'

Taking another deep breath, the Nanadaime's son dragged his legs and put one foot before the other in a tardily manner, ignoring the disgust of the mud between his toes. He'd rather feel happier that he was touching _ground_ of mother earth than _steel _of the underground base Orochimaru had held him captive in. Boruto's sense of direction, or lack thereof, wouldn't help him here; he didn't know which way was east or west, north or south, or if he was even walking towards a cliff. He also had no idea what time it could be despite the strange streak of light that could be detailed in the sky. It looked like a mixture of orange and dark blue.

Boruto trudged forward through the clods of earth with his mind empty save for the heightened resolve to find somewhere _relatively _safe for him to lie down and sleep off his weariness. He wasn't going to ignore his body's need for more sleep. Though, he wished he could eat something at the same time. How long had it been since he last had a meal? Thinking about food made him think about his mother. She was probably the best cook he'd ever known; he could remember the tasty and fluffy light pancakes she made in the morning. Oh boy, what he'd do to have one of those right now. Maybe even fifty. Recalling some of the delicious dishes she'd make made his stomach grumble in protest, reminding him of his stomach's famished status. It took as of his willpower to stop himself from keeling over when the low, drawn out growl and pain that erupted from his stomach. Oh gods, he didn't know how long he'd continue running on fumes alone anymore.

The boy stumbled over his feet but managed to not fall down completely. He caught himself, thankfully on a random tree's branch to his left that he automatically clutched. He panted from the exertion, feeling the burn spread to his chest. Why did it feel so hot all of a sudden? The rain had been doing a good job of cooling him off—and of course, keeping him drenched. Few moments later, he released his grip on the branch, forcing himself to taking baby steps forward, keeping his head down in fear of making any mistakes of stepping on something. The rain felt like a chilling cover for him, dampening his usually spiky locks, matting his bangs to his face, and rinsing off the muck as he went. Not all of it left him; he could feel the rest lingering upon him like an itch he couldn't scratch. Totally bothersome.

'_If only I could use sage mode now. I'd be able to detail at least what was around me. But I can't even do that, let alone a Kage Bunshin. I don't even have enough chakra for a simple Kawarimi._' The young boy mused to himself, irritated beyond repair. His situation wasn't getting any better and he'd dare not jinx it further than it was. The last thing he needed was something more to crap on his life. What ever had he done to this world to deserve this? Rhetorically questioned or not, he felt the answer was due in part to his past behavior. '_I can't even think straight... I need to lie down somewhere. For like... five hundred days or something..._' Chakra exhaustion coupled with physical and mental exhaustion, hunger, weariness and dizziness—sleep was just the medicine he needed right now. If only he could find somewhere safe, but in any direction he looked, it was dark and hazy. Only various shapes could be made out and he could hardly see what was in front of him.

He knew he had to stay somewhat awake to be aware. There were other dangers out here in this apparent wilderness, like bandits. In his weakened state, he wouldn't be able to defend himself he was sure of that. A rogue with no ninja training could take him out in a heartbeat, regardless if he sensed them out or not. But, staying awake was harder done than said; every second that ticked by gradually increased his weariness levels. It was only a matter of time before he gave out.

Finally, after what seemed to be for so long, he couldn't take it anymore. When he stumbled over the next time, he let himself fall forward, not bothering to catch himself. He expected to tumble face first into more muddy grime, imprinting his body shape into the clogged dirt. It was no surprise he met the ground once again, meeting his expectation right on schedule. What else happened after that, however, wasn't in his assumed "plan of attack", in relation to tumbling down. The boy _slid _across the muck and mire, tumbling even _further_, down a narrow slope and into some sort of basin alcove. Boruto lifted his head up in one more attempt, trying to assess his new location but after a quick second, he buried his head back into the ground. He tried, he honestly did, to keep going, but it wasn't enough. He was far too weakened to move anymore. He felt his entire body was on fire, and the rain wasn't helping anymore. In addition to that, he was filthy, whole and completely. He'd need to take several showers to clean off the grime that caked upon his bare chest, hands, in his hair, essentially everywhere.

The boy spat out whatever muck got into his mouth and gagged. That was disgusting. At this point, he didn't care anymore. Maybe mother nature would kill him off and then he'd be free. Perhaps his death would ensure Mabi's freedom, too. He'd be able to wander around freely without being controlled, thus ruining Orochimaru's plans that way. Or, at least stalling them. All in all, Boruto felt like an utter failure, like trash. First he couldn't save Himawari and now he couldn't even save himself. Seriously, what kind of shinobi had he turned out to be? Some sort of fluke?

His dull, sapphire eyes glanced at nothing from where he lie, though their lids were growing heavier by the second. The very thought of sleep was tempting—to hell with the danger he could possibly be in. From Orochimaru to random missing-nin to bandits, he was probably better off dead and forgotten. Right where he was; in some ditch, hungry and deprived of social interaction and love. In his last moments of awareness, he remembered the warm smiles of his family, the beautiful village of Konoha, and the luxuries he once had. He couldn't stop himself from shedding a few tears, again, at the gravity of his situation, and the crack of his resolutions.

'_I just want to go home. I don't want to be here anymore. How much more can I endure until this ends?_'

His eyelids drew closed and the world was out of his sight. Boruto wouldn't know when the next time he'd ever wake up again.

* * *

_**Boruto**_

* * *

Voices.

He could hear them. What they were talking about he wasn't sure of. They seemed to be muted or at least a distance away from him. What was the topic about? Who were they? Could it perhaps be someone had found him? Were they friend or foe? Did they have any idea he could possibly be nearby? Ugh, if only he could get up! Boruto strained his already overused senses to focus in on the two voices. There were some words he could make out, however.

"...happened...on ...m... ould do... agi?"

"...not sure... ut... showed... gress... have...ealing ...ink you... uld... yu?"

The first voice apparently paused before speaking up again. "Probab... b... it's... n... ix days... t... ch... of a... ign... still..."

"...tta keep... ing... we... p..."

"Okay... ive me... ments... epare."

What was happening? What time was it? What day was it? Who were those people? Did they know he was there, lying in some ditch, awaiting for death to claim him? Were they just passersby without a care in the world? Would they notice him? So many questions he had, so many answers he wanted, but his inability to open his eyes prevented such the desire.

The Seventh Hokage's son strained himself until he heard the telltale signs of someone's sandals walking through the squish of the mud and wet grass. Those footsteps were coming closer towards...him! Perhaps they did find him? What were they going to do? Apprehension built up in his core and he fought to wake up but realized it was nigh impossible. He was stuck in whatever position he wound up in when he fell last time—whenever that was—and couldn't defend himself. Maybe they were going to put him out of his misery. It'd be the best thing to do to someone who's beyond the gate of life. Or close to it. Whoever they were, Boruto wouldn't hold it against them—they were doing him a favor anyway. Resigning himself, he awaited the kunai, the blade, or the technique that would ultimately take the remains of his life.

Rather than either of those, he felt a damp cloth dabbing at different places on his face and neck, as if the person were trying to cool him down. It was removed in favor of placing it into something with more water, the light splash and wringing noise audible enough to detail it. The cloth returned, the person's hand above the cloth wiping down in gentle strokes. Whoever it was continued applying wet doses to his face, most likely hoping to cool him down or whatever.

"I know... re still... live," the person began, although Boruto wasn't sure if he heard them clearly or not, "You'll rec...er... I'll have... keep watch... ou." They sounded male, probably around his teens, although his voice was unfamiliar. The man-whoever-he-was placed his hands upon Boruto's chest, carefully and began applying chakra to them. The soft hum reminded the blond of Sakura-obasan's medical ninjutsu and assumed that was happening now. Healing. This unknown guy was healing him?

Suddenly, the boy felt some chakra entering his system. It wasn't the medical ninjutsu but rather as if someone was performing the chakra transfer technique. The energy itself wasn't malicious, like when he felt Orochimaru's slowly leaking into his own, trying to bind his will. It was just very potent and different. After some time, the healing stopped as well as the chakra transfer. The young man seemed his work was done for now or something to do something else. He must have picked up his right arm and held it since that's what he felt. Few seconds later, his arm was placed down and the mysterious guy's presence vanished.

Boruto, unable to open his eyes to take a glimpse of his apparent helper, fell into a sense of comfort and security. He soon found himself lulled back to sleep once again, with the tender sound of a breeze rustling by. The world's euphony eventually faded out like a song on the radio.

* * *

_**...**_

* * *

_A warm smile decorated his face when he saw his house. The garden was as he remembered it; flowers blooming and numerous, miniature trees gave it a far-off cabin feel, even though it was within the village. His mother was standing outside the doorway, the brilliant sunshine elevating her already motherly beauty. He saw her activating her Byakugan to see far off. Her mouth formed into a tender smile of her own when she apparently spotted something and deactivated her bloodline. Stepping beside her was his father, grinning wide for himself. The two seemingly shared an exchange before the man cupped his hands together close to his mouth._

"_Boruto! Himawari! It's lunch time! Better hurry up or I'll eat it all!" He called out._

_His heart fluttered with many emotions at once at the call of his name. He was about to step forward when he realized he was stuck to his current spot. Coming into view was a young boy with blond hair, around seven years old, racing back with a three-year-old girl with dark hair following behind him. The two were giggling and laughing as they raced home. When the two children saw the man in the doorway, they immediately latched onto him, excited. _

"_Dad!" the little boy shouted in glee, jumping up and grabbing the man's right arm._

"_Daddy!" the little girl squealed out happily, jumping and grabbing the man by his left arm. _

_The father had such a wide smile on his face when he was greeted by the children, easily lifting them up to sit in each arm as they participated in joyful laughter. "Hey, hey. There you two are. Did you have fun playing outside?"_

"_Yeah!" the pair of kids cried out together. _

"_That's good. Well, come on kids! Your mom made some delicious lunch. Let's go and eat!" The woman smiled as she was mentioned before stepping inside. _

"_Yay!" the two children giggled together as their father took them inside the house. Soon as the door closed behind them, he could hear their laughs even where he stood. The sound was harmonious to ears and he wished he were inside with them. To be apart of the eurythmic scene. Suddenly as it was peaceful, a forlorn darkness cast down upon the house and its surroundings! The grass turned from its lush vegetation to dried up and littered with weeds. The trees around withered to nothing but dead bark. The house fell into an abrupt abandon; windows shattered, doors off their hinges, things busted in. It looked haunted, out of a movie or story. The skies transformed from their cheery blue to a dreaded pitch black—it was a mockery of the once blue canvas painted with clouds. _

_Within the skies, he saw three tomoe marks materialize, all intersecting in a familiar pattern he wished to forget. It was the Cursed Seal of Heaven! _

_The scene flashed away from his house and into the epicenter of Konohagakure. People were screaming, running and falling dead like flies. The pavement he stood over was cracked as if someone manipulated the ground with a devastating Earth Release technique. What had happened? Why _was _it happening!? _

"_Ku, ku, ku." _

_That laugh! _

_He whirled around, hoping to spot the owner of the voice, but couldn't find that bastard! Where was he!? Fists clenched, he sought to find the snake freak and was a little surprised that he wasn't rooted to his spot like before. He dashed around Konoha, the city large but he was able to navigate through the streets easily like the back of his hand. It wasn't too long until he encountered another scene, this one almost disturbingly similar to the one from Orochimaru's labs, the last time he had seen his father._

_And there was the man of topic, alight in a different form this time. His entire body was in the cloak of Kurama-ojisan's chakra. The fox himself was standing beside his father, in the same flaming aura. On the opposing side of the makeshift battlefield was Orochimaru himself, grinning devilishly. They were having some sort of stand-off. That didn't last much longer until the snake sannin began to 'peel' off his face. He watched in disgusted horror alongside the Nanadaime as Orochimaru discarded his skin to reveal... himself?_

_He saw his father's face transform from its scowl to mortified disbelief then finally to outraged anger. _

"_Bastard!" He heard his father cry out._

_The look-alike of him just chuckled deeply, as if amused by the scene. He looked every way like him, but the eyes were that in possession of the snake sannin. It wasn't him at all—he had been taken over by that freak. He was using _his _body to destroy Konoha! "Do you not like my new look, Naruto? After all, it is the spitting image of you. It's perfect. I'm so close to perfection! And it's clearly thanks to you for having such untainted offspring." Before either Uzumaki male knew it, the Orochimaru-possessed boy began to ignite in a similar flame as the Nanadaime. Except, this flaming aura was blue with orange-ish flickers occassionally emitting from them. He knew what the power was, where it came from._

Mabi.

_His father and Kurama-ojisan were slightly confused for many reasons and one of them was due to the fact they could sense _it_. The familiarity of the chakra encasing the not-his-son's body. It felt like the Nibi and Kyūbi were in one. It was unlike anything they've ever felt before, not including other circumstances. Both, however, could feel one thing in congruent with this mysterious chakra; it was pain. A twisted, malicious and corrupted intent of something's pain. He could feel it too. It was the young tailed beast that had been created within him. It was agonizing. _

"_I didn't think you'd have fallen so far, Orochimaru. First Sasuke... Now my son... If there were anyone that couldn't be redeemed enough, it's you." He heard his father speak. He noted the man was trying his best to speak with a calm mind, but he knew better. His father was absolutely livid."You had a chance to change... Perhaps it was foolish of me to realize that somewhere down the road you would change. But now, you're starting back on that dark path once more." His father tightly clutching his hands into shaking fists. _

_Orochimaru didn't seem the least bit fazed by the tongue-lashing he just received and simply smirked. "Naruto, you should have known better. But I suppose if you wish to stop me, you're welcome to try. But before you do, think about the boy you claim as your son. He is very persistent in resisting me—you wouldn't want to hurt your little boy, would you?"_

_The Nanadaime was shaking, not in fear, but in rage. He knew he was right—while he was controlling _that _body, he'd be harming his first-born child as well. He knew it as well and was staring at his father. Would he do it? Would he really charge the snake freak and kill him while he was still alive in his own body? Would he risk it? The man who adored and cherished family... killing the very same family he promised to protect? He could only shake his head in fear, sadness, guilt, and denial when he saw his father glaring at Orochimaru and taking steps forward. No, no, no! He couldn't! He wouldn't! _

_He began running at the possessed boy with nothing more but murder in his red eyes._

_No, no, no, no! _

"_Ku, ku, ku, ku..."_

_No! No, please, no!_

_He saw his father raise his right hand, the Rasengan forming to life within seconds as he charged forward! His battle yell was like a lion's roar, his rage fueling it further as he advanced closer! The spherical blue orb of dense chakra kept whirling to life, leaving a whitish-blue streak behind it as his father was an orange blur flickering about. _

_No! Don't do it!_

_His voice, no matter how much he shouted, his father didn't hear him. He kept going until he saw the Seventh Hokage right in front of Orochimaru. He screamed in pure terror, collapsing to his knees, his hands digging into his scalp, blond strands pulled forcefully out of his hair, and tears streaming down his face as they continually fell. It was in slow motion that he saw the man that fathered him thrust the Rasengan deep into his chest. _

_The color red was everywhere. It was everywhere. On him. On his clothes, on his father's face. A deep heartbeat pounded in his ears as the gruesome scene remained. It thundered at the door of his mind. He couldn't hear anything from it—not the voices, not the people, nor were they visible anymore. No one could hear his terrified screams of denial, for his father to stop. The heartbeat grew louder, louder, louder._

_Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. __**BA-DUM**__._

_No. No. No! He looked down and saw himself in a different setting. It was within a large room with gigantic, silver cage behind him, with water reaching his ankles. The tag for "seal" was upon it, keeping something at bay. Before he realized it, dark black chakra emitted from behind the bars, forming around him, encapsulating him. He couldn't move. Couldn't run. Couldn't breathe! No matter how much he struggled, how much he protested, he couldn't break free! He could only hear one voice._

"_Ku, ku, ku, you are mine now... I told you before I would find you."_

_No. No! Not here! Not now!_

"_There is no escape, little Uzumaki. You're far gone to save now..."_

_Hands suddenly grabbed him and shook him, as if trying to strangle him. No, he couldn't let it kill him. Couldn't let it win! He had to fight back! His eyes saw the ones of the small tailed beast staring at him. But, those eyes of the young creature were filled with no such emotion. They were disintered in his power struggle, his strife. But, if he was here, was he to assist?_

"_**You didn't protect me, father.**__"_

_'No, I did, Mabi. Believe me. I did. I did! With everything I had!'_

"_**The snake man took you over and used me. Father, I thought we were friends. Inseparable. Why did you leave me?**__"_

_'It wasn't my fault!'_

"_**You didn't protect me.**__"_

_'I did!'_

"_**You didn't protect me.**__"_

_'I-I did... I tried my hardest!'_

"_**You didn't try hard enough, father. You betrayed me.**__"_

_The image of the neko no kitsune began to fade, repeating the same lines in slow, mechanical repetition. There was no end to it. His voice resonated and echoed across the room. It was everywhere. He couldn't escape! There was nowhere to run to even when he was mysteriously released from the chakra prison. Every direction he ran into on his bare feet ended up in dead ends or endless twists and turns. The cage kept coming back and the murky water turned to blood. Before he knew it, he was trapped. The blood kept coming, kept chasing him. No escape. No escape. _

_And soon, his father was there, with those cold eyes of his. The Rasengan was in his hand once more and the man thrust it through his chest, piercing through muscle tissue and bone alike with ease. "This is the end of you, Orochimaru." _

_'No, I'm... your son... Boru...to...'_

"_You damn liar. My son is stronger than the likes of you. For everything you've done... For all the pain you've caused... The world is better off without you, bastard." The image of his father withdrew his bloodied hand and the sight of the Rasenshuriken replaced it. The last thing he saw was the Nanadaime throwing it and its direction expanding towards him. Closer, closer, closer, the whirling noise screeched until it hit its mark!_

_Shnnk!_

_He couldn't feel himself. Only in that dark moment, he saw himself split asunder... The crimson liquid puddling beneath his halves, from his mouth... His form was lifeless, his eyes lost their luster. He could see himself and yet, he couldn't believe it. Was this his fate? To be rejected by Mabi? To be killed by his father?! Terror seized his heart as the sinister cackle of the snake sannin echoed all around him..._

_This couldn't be! No, no, no, no..._

_**NO!**_

* * *

_**...**_

* * *

"Kid! Pull yourself together! You're having a nightmare!" Someone shouted, shaking him fervently. His arms and legs went wild, punching and kicking out in random directions to shake off the strange hands that were on him. No, no, no. It couldn't be happening! Not again! "Kid! Wake up!" The voice was urgent. Before he knew it, something wet splashed upon him and he jolted up immediately, eyes agape and heart pounding in his chest. Something blue was introduced to his face and he reacted like any sane person at this point would; he punched out.

"Ow!" the same voice from before groaned. Boruto blinked, trying to gather his senses together from his mad panic. When his haze faded out, standing before him was a man, probably in his twenties, had electric blue hair that was styled oddly—a large part of it appeared spiked up towards the right. He was wearing armor similar to those of Land of Iron origin would, although in a silver, white and blue attire, with a burnt orange scarf around his neck. His eyes were as equally blue as his hair and he was currently nursing the bruise on his left cheek. When their eyes met, Boruto's expression held extreme guilt. He was about to apologize when he noticed he wasn't feeling in the mood to. Not to be rude, but he didn't trust himself, or his voice's capabilities, just yet.

"Apologies for splashing you with water. You weren't waking up when I shook you. I had to do something," The man began, massaging his bruise before adding, "You definitely have a nice right hook. I guess that's what I get for trying to wake you so suddenly." A whitish-green glow, medical ninjutsu, emitted from his hand to begin the self-healing process. With his other hand, he offered the blue thing again, which turned out to be a towel. The blond stared at it for a moment before taking it, closing his hands around it. The texture was a little rough but still soft enough to be used. He used it to wipe the notable sweat and the splashed water from his his face. "You're probably wondering where you are now?"

A silent nod was the man's answer and he accepted it. "We're around the borders of the Land of Fire and what my friend hilariously dubs as the 'Land of Rain'," he answered, catching the boy's attention. His cheery disposition transformed into a grim one. "My friend found you several days ago in some ditch. To be honest, we thought you weren't going to make it. He asked me to use everything I knew to help you out. Of course, I was going to. Couldn't leave a kid to die without trying something." Boruto frowned and looked away. So, people did find him after all, and he almost died? His facial expression must have clued in the other male because he spoke up again.

"Hey," he placed a hand on the lad's shoulder, trying to offer a sincere smile, "I don't know what happened to you out there... But, you're alive. You can go home and return to your family and friends." That had some effect but not much. The boy continued to nod silently, kept his head down and finding much interest in his bare feet than keeping eye contact. The blue-haired man removed his hand in order to concentrate the medical ninjutsu into both hands and press them upon Boruto's chest. Once a quick examination of that was over with, he ceased the chakra and nodded.

"Looks like you're all right for now, but we'll hang around for a while until you're ready. I'll come check on you a little later, okay?" Another nod was his response. "By the way, my name's Ryu. Another kid with teal hair in red might come in sometime is my friend. His name's Sagi. Don't worry, he's friendly. When you're feeling better, you can tell us your name later. Right now, just get some rest." Still not trusting his voice, Boruto gave him one last nod before the blue-haired man departed. Now that he was relatively alone, the blond took the time to examine his new surroundings.

No longer was he in that murky atmosphere. He was inside a tent, a green one at that, most likely a camping one due to its size. He was currently lying on a collapsible cot, complete with a faded blue blanket with just enough cotton to be comfortable during cold nights. Of course, his legs were no longer covered by the blanket—he must have kicked it off in his frenzy. That horrible dream. Boruto shivered; he didn't want to relive that terror right now.

The tent was pretty standard and not overtly done like a noble's would be when they travel. At least, from what he's heard. The Konoha genin examined his body next. Gone were the muck and mire; his hands and feet appeared cleaned off. He experimentally ran his hands through his hair, noticing how it spiked up into its usual, normal style—that of an upside leaf for whatever reason. His abnormal ahoge seemed to be back in its usual place although a tad longer. He didn't mind about that.

His hands went to his face, noticing the softness of his skin. He was sure there had been a scar or two on it. Glancing down, he was wearing a shirt that wasn't his nor anywhere near his size. Perhaps two sizes bigger, with the sleeves rolled up. The shirt was a plain, dark gray color. The pants he currently wore were the same color and also a couple sizes too big on the legs but he didn't care. They were _clean _and fresh. Remembering something from this nightmare, Boruto quickly lifted up his shirt and touched his bare chest all over for any sort of imprint of a Rasengan shaped hole. He found none and soon felt momentarily dumb. He had _just _written off that dream as a nightmare and here he was checking to see if it was real.

He was eternally glad it wasn't. His father being the one to kill him if Orochimaru ever took over his body... That was a scary thought. But, rationally thinking, what if it was the only way to kill the snake bastard and save him, his son, from his grasp? What if that was the only thing he could do? Boruto suddenly got the jitters and hugged his knees to his chest. He couldn't let that happen. He didn't want to die, not when he had another chance, another shot, to get things right.

Ryu, was it? He said they were on the border of the Land of Fire and wherever that village, Amegakure, resided in. They were close to Konoha. If he remembered correctly, it was about a weeks' time away, if he excluded the random bandits should he encounter them. Orochimaru won't have the last laugh now. He was nearby his home country. His dad most likely returned to Konoha to have his sister, Himawari, treated at the hospital before finding possible conclusions to his whereabouts. Well, that's what he hoped. His father was bull-headed when it came to family and friends. He wouldn't abandon him because he had been whisked away would he? No, of course not.

Boruto just had to believe in those good thoughts and rebuild his resolve. Things had looked bleak but now they were looking brighter. Ryu seemed like a good man—perhaps he could help him get to Konoha. After that, they could part ways. His father would likely commend them and do something nice for saving and helping him. Hokage's son and all that. '_That's what I'll do. I'll ask him... Somehow. My voice still doesn't feel right and I don't feel one hundred percent. Maybe at thirty percent right now. It's... better than what I felt like those days ago. Or however long ago it was._'

Several days ago could be translated to weeks. They could tell him how long and estimate from there. Being gone for that much longer, away from home; everyone must be worried sick. Going back now would ease their worries and Sasuke-ojisan could help remove the cursed seal on him; it was a power restraint and utilized chakra simultaneously. For a shinobi, it was bad news. But, what would that do to Mabi? The seal was connected to the other one that was used to contain the tailed beast inside him. Would he disappear? The seals connected him and Boruto together as well; while the blond's chakra funneled through normally, some of it was filtered into the containment seal to give Mabi the power fuel he needed, converting it into chakra for the creature. In exchange, the chakra taken by Matatabi and Kurama to create Mabi would maximize and channel through his chakra network to invoke a Tailed Beast Cloak.

From his brief understanding, that's what was currently happening now. Inducing Sage Mode boosted this effect when he used it during their attempted escape.

Speaking of Mabi, Boruto hadn't visited or spoken to him in a while. The poor thing must have been worried sick himself. The only issue was contacting him without going into his mind. Was it some sort of telepathy power? Or, was it acknowledging the Bijū that allowed them to see through their senses? It was best to test it out.

"_Mabi?_" Boruto called out quietly to himself, waiting patiently. He didn't have to wait long. He heard a quiet yawn emit from within and it settled down a few seconds later.

"_**...Ru?**_"

Oh, good. So, they did have that weird connection going on. That was a relief. "_Yeah, it's me. Sorry for waking you up. Are you doing okay?_" It was a little while before the neko no kitsune responded.

"_**Mabi fine... But Ru in pain. Bad dreams. Ru... Okay?**_"

"_I'm going to be okay. Don't worry about me._" That would be impossible. The critter was always worried ever since he was aware. Boruto looked around, carefully, and asked, "_Can you see what I see and hear?_" The blond overheard a little shuffle of movement, probably the hybrid sitting up in a sitting position.

"_**A lot of green,**_" was the reply's first line, "_**And... some sound... like a fan...**_" He finished but trailed off, seeming unsure. Boruto gave him a mental nod of approval. What he saw was green, the tent, and what he heard was the breeze outside. It would sound remotely like a fan.

"_Good. Listen, you'll be seeing a lot of new things soon. Don't be afraid to ask me, okay? I'll answer you the best I can. It's going to be really different from now on. Think you can handle it?_" The boyish chakra animal would be in the surprise of his early life. He'd never seen trees, grass, clouds, buildings—save for the imagery of Konoha he had going in his mindscape (which hardly counted)—the sun and the moon. It was going to be a culture shock extreme and preparing him now was in their best interests.

"_**Mabi handle what Ru can.**_"

That very sentence brought upon a faint, genuine smile on Boruto's face. He was glad to have a committed companion, one that would take a challenge head on. He spoke with conviction, too. That proved personalities must have passed on unintentionally. "_I'm glad, Mabi. Thank you._"

Konohagakure. He may have lost his headband but he wouldn't lose being a citizen of the village. It was time to take his life back and give the middle finger to Orochimaru and his schemes. The bloke most likely didn't count on unknown factors, such as other people finding him. Ryu seemed to be a nice fellow and didn't smell of snakes—he smelled more like wet hair and iron. Definitely a person originating from the Land of Iron. Perhaps with his and his friend's, Sagi's—he believed that was the other's name—help, he could get home and fix this mess. His heart beat at the prospect of returning home, finally, after what seemed like a long time. He couldn't wait to see his friends and his family again, especially his mother.

_I'm almost home, Mom, Dad, Himawari. Please, wait for me!_

* * *

Review if you like; don't review if you don't like.

Ryu &amp; Sagi: characters from other games that are inserted in this fic for helping Boruto in his small segments. They won't be permanent and I couldn't think of any characters of mine either (I was too lazy, lol).


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